Of Schoolyard Scrapes and Power Complexes
by TLCFTW
Summary: A look into the short peacetime between the Simon and Curse of the Rainbow arcs, and insight into the inner workings of Sawada Tsunayoshi and Sasagawa Kyoko. Fluffy, but kind of not. Thick fluff? Anyways, read it, you won't regret it.


Here's this while I'm hard at work procrastinating on my other fics. Enjoy!

/

A cut lip, hair even more mussed than usual, scrapes on his hands and knees from being pushed to the ground in some back alley, bruises already purpling on his face…

Kyoko sighed as she pressed a wet washcloth to Tsuna's face. They were sitting side-by-side on her doorstep, her family's first aid kit lying open between them. "Have you considered fighting back?" she asked him.

He blinked in surprise. "Um…A-against who?"

"Whom, and against the people that have made a habit of turning you into their personal punching bag."

"Kyoko, I told you, this is just from falling down a flight of—ah!" he hissed as she applied pressure to his savaged face.

"You are an awful liar," she informed him. "Which I find strange; I would have thought you'd acquired enough experience at being dishonest to at least tell a slightly believable lie."

He looked away in shame.

"Face me," she said, turning his face towards her once more with slender fingers before sighing once more. "I find it baffling, Tsuna, I really do. I watched you fight in a deathmatch with a godlike being in the future, I saw you _win_… and I'm assuming you've grown even stronger since then, since you came back alive from whatever misadventure you and your family went on." Tsuna stared at her in open shock. She rolled her eyes. "Tsuna, when seven guardians disappear all at once without telling anyone, it's fairly obvious that you're leaving on mafia-related business."

"It wasn't – it wasn't strictly mafia, it was just…a personal issue."

"You're changing the subject. Why don't you fight back?"

"Because I don't want to forget the feeling of being No-Good-Tsuna." He stared at his hands as he slowly flexed his fingers. "Yes, I could fight back. I could win, easy. But what's the point? Who would benefit from me hurting other people? What do I protect by raising my fists to bullies?"

"Your body."

"I don't _care_ about my body, Kyoko, I don't. If I just lie back and take it, then I'm the only one that gets hurt, but if I fight back, then the bullies get hurt, then they take their humiliation out on someone else. So who have I helped then?" He curled his hands into fists. "These hands can hurt, Kyoko, these hands can kill, you've _seen _them kill… I'm reminded of that every time I get the urge to fight."

"So… you don't defend yourself because you don't want to hurt other people."

"I don't defend myself because I don't like fighting…I don't defend myself because I don't want to turn Namimori into a battlefield." He hesitated. "And also, well…"

Kyoko cocked her head at him, lightly baffled by his sudden change in demeanor. "What else?"

He lowered his eyes, embarrassment coloring his cheeks. "It's kind of a stress reliever."

She blinked at him. "What?"

"Well, I mean, it's like… All of my fights have been high-pressure. Each and every time, my loved ones have hung in the balance. Each and every time, I've had no choice but to win. So, well… losing feels pretty refreshing."

Kyoko gawked at him for a moment before speaking again. "Does that make you a masochist?"

His face was radiating heat by that point. "I just like knowing that I can be beaten… I like to be sure that I'm still human, even after winning against such monstrous opponents."

Kyoko stared at him, taking in the strange gleam in the boy's eyes. Those weren't the eyes of a teenager; they were the eyes of an old man that couldn't stop worrying about the rest of the world. She would have thought that Reborn had been the cause of that look if it weren't for the fact that she would sometimes catch glimpses of it before the infant had come around. "Tsuna," she said softly, taking his hands in hers, "I want you to make me a promise."

He gulped. "What kind of promise?"

"Promise me that you'll take better care of your body." She shook her head before he could protest. "I'm not asking you to fight back, I'm asking you to protect yourself. Just run away, or walk home with somebody. I'm sure Gokudera would be thrilled."

"But, I mean, I don't want anyone to worry—"

"Then what is _this?_" she snapped, dabbing at yet another injury that she'd somehow missed in her initial sweep. "What am I doing now, if not worrying? What do I do every time I watch you walk home, wondering if you'll make it back unscathed, if it's not worrying? What keeps me up at night, if it's not worry for you?" Tsuna blinked at her sudden outburst, as surprised at her change of pace as she had been at his. She released a growl of frustration and folded her hands in her lap, staring at them in an attempt to disperse the blood that had rushed to her head. Nobody else could do this to her; nobody else could make her quite as angry as Tsuna could. Her brother came close, but there was something more to the fire that leaked into her words every time she lost patience with the brown-haired boy. It was close to indignance, some feeling that she was being ignored when she shouldn't be.

"Okay," Tsuna whispered, scooping her hands out of her lap, "I promise." She looked at him in open shock. "That's hurtful, Kyoko-chan," he whined. "It's not really _that_ surprising, is it?"

"Just Kyoko," she corrected.

"What?" he asked, hardly daring to believe his ears.

"Just call me Kyoko. And yes, it really is that surprising. I was sure that I'd have to do something drastic to get you to listen to reason, like go on another strike or get kidnapped."

"Don't joke about that. And what would you do to go on a strike, anyway? You don't feed me anymore."

_Someday._ "I'm sure I could work out a deal with your mother," she replied, a wicked grin on her face.

Tsuna grimaced; she was probably right. "Well, let's just be happy that you don't need to do all that."

"But that's just it; why _are _you caving in so easily?"

"Because you're right, of course; I didn't think about how much I make people worry about me when I get hurt, and those people would probably feel better knowing that they were helping to keep me safe." He hesitated. "But, um, old habits die hard, so…"

"No."

"C'mon, Kyoko-ch—Kyoko," he amended when she threw him a sharp glance, "you can't expect me to quit cold turkey. I'll run, I'll get Gokudera or Yamamoto to accompany me, but every so often – maybe once a month or so – "

"Absolutely not! Not under any circumstance—" She paused, an idea taking form. "Okay."

Tsuna was flabbergasted. "Really?"

"Really. But only under one condition. Actually, two. First, you have to tell me whenever you go and fight a new battle; no running off without telling me and coming back with all your bones broken to dust or something ridiculous like that."

_Okay, that's just uncanny,_ Tsuna decided. "Um… Okay. That's fair, I guess. What's the other one?"

"I get to walk you home."

"Wha—No!"

"Yes."

"No!"

"_Yes_," she countered, more insistent.

"What if those guys come around and try to…"

Kyoko felt a chill crawl up her spine as Tsuna's eyes slid out of focus, probably imagining the worst-case scenario and a life-or-death struggle. "Then we'll run," she asserted, drawing him out of his reverie almost as soon as it had begun. "We'll shake them off and duck into a cake shop, then eat until we spoil our dinners, and once it gets dark, you can fly me home like some kind of super hero, and we'll live happily ever after. Okay?"

He paused, considering. "…Okay."

"Good," she asserted, packing away the first aid kit and shutting it with a snap. "Now that that's out of the way, tell me what happened while you were away."

Tsuna's expression immediately darkened. "I killed someone again."

She sighed and rose gracefully to her feet, motioning for Tsuna to follow suit. "Come in, sit down, and tell me the _whole_ story, from the _beginning_."

Tsuna did as he was told, exhaustively listing out every detail of the journey that he could recall, from the arrival of the Simon Family to Mukuro's return. Kyoko, for her part, hung on his every word; she only nodded and said 'Of course,' when he told her about his pride, and berated him for his regret over the supposed killing.

"Tsuna, you're being ridiculous. What you destroyed wasn't even a person, it was just a memory that was haunting the present – it was a ghost, and you laid it to rest. Think of it as an exorcism."

"But…"

"You said he smiled at the end, right? Doesn't that mean you gave him more happiness in his final moments than he could have ever experienced if he'd gone on tormenting you for the rest of his non-life?"

"I dunno, he seemed to really enjoy beating me up…" He shook his head. "But that's not the point, Kyoko-ch—Kyoko."

"Then what is the point?"

"I have the power to kill people! I could – I could – "

She rolled her eyes. "Yes, Tsuna, you could. You could kill just about anyone. You could even kill me, easily, but I am far more concerned about being struck by a meteorite than I am about being hurt by you. Power by itself means nothing; it's what you do with that power that has meaning."

Tsuna shook his head. "But still…"

"All right, fine, let's look at this from the opposite direction: how far would you have gotten without power?" She could read the answer on his face. "Nowhere, right? You would have lost everything the moment you faced off against Mukuro all those months ago if you didn't have power. And that's really what it boils down to, Tsuna; you're not the only one that has the power to kill, and some people are willing to use it to that end." Tsuna averted his gaze again, already dismayed. Kyoko sighed. "It's not as though I don't understand where you're coming from; Onii-san went through a similar phase when he started injuring people in his boxing matches. But the power used to hurt people can be used to protect, as well, and you are the very embodiment of that power."

Tsuna frowned and cocked his head at her. "You lost me."

"Just think about it, Tsuna; you grow stronger every time you gain someone to protect. Against Mukuro, it was a handful of friends; against Xanxus, your guardians and some of their acquaintances; against Byakuran, most of the Vongola family and some of our friends from the future; against Daemon, the Simon family. With every battle, you've gained comrades, and the power to protect them. You always have just the right amount of power to keep the people you love safe." She smiled. "And that's what I find really remarkable, Tsuna; you love a lot of people. You've got a heart capable of accepting anyone, and, eventually, I believe that you'll take everyone in the world under your protection, and we'll finally see world peace."

Steam billowed out of Tsuna's ears as every piece of his brain that had been following the conversation jammed and exploded into a million pieces.

His head fell onto the table with a clunk. "That's a lot of pressure, Kyoko. There's no possible way I could live up to those expectations," he groaned.

She giggled. "You might think so, but I know you can do it."

He looked up at her from his position on the table. "You don't mean that."

Kyoko shrugged. "You're probably going to underrate yourself for your whole life, but never, ever underestimate the amount of faith people have in you." She paused. "Although, now that I say it out loud, I guess it was a bit much to lay on you at once."

"No kidding."

"Just to be clear, I'm not expecting you to accomplish all this immediately, just sometime in the future."

"It's the 'sometime' part that I'm having trouble wrapping my head around."

"Oh, you need a deadline? How about… four years from now?"

"_FOUR_? That's – that's just…"

"Well, if you keep making friends of your enemies, and your enemies keep getting bigger and bigger, then, at the rate you're going, four years should be plenty of time."

He moaned into the table. "You're killing me, Kyoko." She blinked as he cracked a smile. "Hey, remember when nobody expected anything of me?"

She smiled in return. "I'm not sure there was ever a time like that." Kyoko rested her chin on the table, lowering her line of sight to match Tsuna's. "Although, I can see why you'd want to go back to those times, when you didn't have all these responsibilities and pressures weighing you down…but I think I like it better this way."

He raised an eyebrow. "And why is that?"

"I'm glad to have somebody as reliable as Tsu-kun looking after my brother." She smiled at the blush that rose to his cheeks.

"And you."

"Hm?"

The blush was still in place, but his eyes didn't hold the slightest trace of embarrassment as he said, "You've always been someone I wanted to protect, even from the very beginning. Don't ever forget that."

She blushed in return, but was intent on upping the tension. "And I feel very safe in your care. Please be sure to take care of me for the rest of my life."

"I intend to." By that point, it was hard to tell which of the two of them was redder. "I'm glad you're happy, Kyoko; if living my life the way I have has made you happier, then I would definitely do it again, each and every time."

"That's all well and good, but aren't you the person that's gained the most happiness out of all this?"

"I…" Tsuna thought about it. He thought about everything that had brought him to that point. He remembered his hellish days of tutoring with Reborn, every time he had to put up with his strange and dangerous whims, the even more dangerous training he'd forced upon Tsuna and his friends. He remembered the fights he'd experienced, the merciless opponents that threatened to kill everybody he loved, the grueling and painful battles he'd had to struggle through each and every step of the way. He remembered the friends he'd placed in harm's way, the people that had been injured in a fight he'd dragged them into, the people that had been fatally wounded and even killed because he wasn't strong enough to protect them.

He remembered the difficult times, the painful times, the fearful times – the sheer overabundance of fearful times.

He wanted to say no. He wanted to tell her that he wasn't happy at all.

But an image kept popping into his head – an image that he couldn't shake, no matter what he did. It was an image of his living room, just as it always was; Mama, smiling and cooking liberal amounts of food; Bianchi, assisting as usual, with disastrous results; Fuuta, sitting in a corner and re-reading his recent lists; Reborn, butting heads with Colonello and Mammon just because they can; Lal Mirch, berating Colonello for making a fool of himself; Yamamoto, laughing and chatting amicably with the ever-withdrawn Kaoru; Gokudera, bickering with Haru, showcasing her most recent costume; Shitt. P., vying for his attention; Lambo and I-pin and Nosaru and Bluebell and Daisy, running around and wreaking havoc as Rauji watched over them; Koyo and Ryohei, exchanging insults and blows intermittently without ever giving the impression of fighting as Lussuria fawned over the boxers; Hana, trying her hardest not to get caught up in the mayhem; Adelheid and Julie, flirting in some obscure corner as only they can: Julie advancing, Adelheid retreating; Dad, sleeping soundly, pickaxe in hand; Mukuro and Hibari, weapons drawn and preparing to duel in the backyard, cheered on by the Kokuyo group, Bel, and Levi; Chrome, looking on in concern, tightly clutching her trident; Xanxus, sitting in a lawn chair and lobbing anything within reach at Squalo, who had disturbed his sleep with his shouting; Shamal, flirting with anything that wasn't nailed down; Giannini, Spanner, and Irie, sprawled out on the living room floor, taking turns tinkering with complicated-looking machinery while Byakuran fired marshmallows at them; Gamma, Tazaru, Torikabuto, Kikyo, and Zakuro, sitting in a small semi-circle, drinking beer as they observe the festivities and just shoot the breeze; Enma, smiling contentedly and keeping tabs on his family; Dino, feeding his pet turtle Enzo, and succeeding, thanks to Romario's silent vigil from an unoccupied corner; and Kyoko, smiling as she ushered him in, apologizing for starting without him.

"I am," he decided, grinning as he never though he would. "I really am."

...

/

Author's Note:

So... yeah. That's that. It's something I kind of had floating around for a while.

Kyoko might be a little OOC, but in my mind, she channels Hana when she gets angry. I think Tsuna's fairly accurate in this context.

And yes, this is something of an 'idealized' version of their relationship, one in which they've progressed from being awkward and unassertive to actually flirting. Sadly, in my mind, that's as far as I can manage to push the couple. Maybe it's just because Kyoko hasn't gotten much screen time lately.

Anyway, I was thinking about trying my hand at a Xanxus/OC fic, since I'm into that sort of thing. You know, anything to avoid finishing something I've started.

Review now or I won't improve! Please, every comment helps!


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